Raytheon-built Griffin missile system to be installed on US Navy's Littoral Combat Ships

Raytheon-built Griffin missile system to be installed on US Navy's Littoral Combat Ships

Posted On
Friday, 21 October 2011 09:32

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Navy Force News - USA

Raytheon-built
Griffin missile system to be installed on US Navy's Littoral Combat Ships

The
Navy will install the Raytheon-built Griffin missile system on board
its growing fleet of Littoral Combat Ships, Rear Adm. James Murdoch,
program executive officer for LCS, said today.
An unmodified version of the short-range, surface-to-air missile will
be installed onto
LCS-1, the USS Freedom. Modification work on the Lockheed Martin-built
ship's missile launchers is now underway, so it will be able to fire
the Griffin, Murdoch said.

The Griffin missile system will be part of the anti-surface warfare
mission module being built for both the Lockheed steel-hulled vessels
and Austal's aluminum-hulled ships.

The first mission modules will be installed on the LCS ship by
fiscal year 2014, but those modules will not include the Griffin, according
to Murdoch. The mission modules that include the Griffin system won't
go to sea until later, he added. The first module with the Griffin missile
will be installed on the USS Freedom.

The other mission packages
currently in the works for LCS will cover anti-submarine and anti-mine
warfare.

The Griffin will replace the now-canceled Non-Line of Sight Launch missile
system that Navy officials initially planned to put onto the LCS.

The Navy teamed up with the Army on NLOS-LS acquisition, with the Army
planning to field a version of the missile on their fleet of tactical
vehicles. Earlier this year, the ground service was forced to cancel the
weapon due to rising costs associated with its development.

That prompted a Navy-led study study on potential NLOS-LS replacements,
which led to selection of the Griffin missile system for the LCS. Murdoch
did admit the Griffin missile lacks many of capabilities that NLOS had,
especially against long-range targets. To try and close those gaps, Murdoch
said the Navy plans a competition for a follow-on missile to the Griffin
by the end of this year. That follow-on missile will be designed to hit
targets "beyond the horizon," Murdoch said.
From: http://defense.aol.com/2011/10/20/navy-arms-lcs-with-new-missile-system/